When do you all start to take practice exams? Forum

[Octaviankid]

So I guess the title speaks for itself...
I've been practicing throughout the semester on small fact patterns per LEEWS suggestion several times a week.



I've read several "success in law school" write ups and there seems to be a difference in opinion on outlining. Some are for it and some are against it..I guess it doesn't matter as long as you read the material. I have rough outlines of the various concepts covered in class, but probably need to compile them into individual dense outlines w/o all the fluff. I decided to do that now (mainly because all my finals are closed book) so that I can start prepping within the next week or so. We obviously haven't covered everything that we're going to cover during the course, but i figured starting now could only help.

Just curious as to when you all REALLY start to prep for exams.

Thanks guys

[thesealocust]

It's way early. The only reason to try and do it now would be if you have a graded midterm on the horizon and have no choice.

[gdane]

After my outline is done. I go ahead in my readings so my outlines are usually done a week and a half before the exam. Plenty of time to practice.

Good luck.

[sidhesadie]

Never,unless a prof will give model answers. (So far, only one has done so).

I did it first semester first year, and never again. Made no difference.
I always LOOK at a professor's past year exams if available, to get an idea of how they test, but I focus on drilling the law.

[apollo2015]

A few days before the final. That seems to work well for me. If the material seems hard, it might be good to start practicing it earlier. I'm not sure if it would make a difference though.

Edit: For context, I am a 2L.

[Octaviankid]

Oh wow, seems like most of you don't bother to outline at all. I'm not sure how much it helps as opposed to just studying the concepts from a profs past exams. What's even more interesting is the time between in which you start taking PTs from actual exam day.

I think I'll keep doing random fact patterns here and there for practice, but definitely have a more directed study per past exams

Much thanks

[stillwater]

practice exams are overrated.

let me qualify that: i never did timed exams. I would look at past exams, read through them, spot issues casually but would never write actual responses. i made sure i knew an outline (usually someone else's) cold and could spot the issues i would need to unload that information onto. theres no real mystery to them.

[Octaviankid]

practice exams are overrated.

let me qualify that: i never did timed exams. I would look at past exams, read through them, spot issues casually but would never write actual responses. i made sure i knew an outline (usually someone else's) cold and could spot the issues i would need to unload that information onto. theres no real mystery to them.

did you take advantage . of comm. outlines or just a upperclassmen's? If you used a commercial, which one?

[oblig.lawl.ref]

Like a couple of days before the final. I thought they were useful and the more I put into a practice exam, normally the better I'd do on the real one. I think lots of my more successful peers also swore by practice exams. But I just don't think there is any reason to do them longer than a week before the real one.

[hephaestus]

Wait until November. You simply do not know enough now that they would be useful. Doing it now is a waste of time.

[bk1]

I did PTs and found them useful (I think I did 3-4 per class fall 1L). That said, as time went on I stopped writing out full answers and just issue spotted them. But I do think that practicing writing out an exam answer is generally beneficial.

I didn't start PTs until late November.

[odoylerulez]

Two weeks before finals.

PTs are most useful for issue spotters that come with a brutal time limit. For everything else, they can be hit and miss, but looking through at least one or two for each class won't hurt.

[brotherdarkness]

.

[thegrayman]

You really have to wait until you have a solid grasp of the course for them to be of much use. If you miss an issue and you aren't through the material, you won't know if it was because you hadn't covered that material yet or because you simply missed it.

If your professor has model answers, that is best case and you can just do them on your own. If there aren't model answers available, then it is best to form a group to go over answers so you make sure you didn't miss any glaring issues.